QSL card: The motorcycling Doughtys of Bucksport, Maine

I'm finally making my way through the last small batch of QSL cards from a shoebox full of them that I bought in early 2012. Most of them have been resold or — in one case — returned to the original family.¹

This QSL for KMZ-2552 is titled "Motorcycle Mama & Motocycle Papa." They are the Doughtys of Bucksport, Maine.² I'm not sure what the symbolism is with regard to Bob and Rosalie crashing a motorcycle into a brick wall upon which Humpty Dumpty/Laurie is tottering, but I'm sure there's a great story behind it. And I do love QSLs with original illustrations.

The card was sent to XM-632-3396, and, on the back, the Doughtys added this note, which is dated November 15, 1977: "We QSL 100% so extras are always appreciated. 3's & 8's your way. Rosalie & Bob."

I'm also curious what these two little symbols on the left-hand side of the card refer to. Anyone have any ideas?

Footnotes
1. A family from Texas contacted me recently when they saw one of the QSLs posted on Papergreat. They wrote: "This was my dad's card from back in the early 60s. Where did you find it? This hit me like a ton of bricks. If you have the card is it possible I can retrieve it from you as it is really a part of our family history." And, after I mailed them card, they responded: "I have passed it onto my sister, the family historian. This has really brought us a lot of great memories and laughs as we can all remember Dad sitting at the Browning Eagle. That was our communication system for long distance between the house and the farm property." I was happy to get the card back into their hands, and I wish I could do it more often with some of the things posted here on the blog.
2. This is the second time Bucksport has been mentioned on Papergreat. The town and its spooky history were mentioned in the December 2012 post titled "1915 post-Christmas postcard: 'Many thanks for the stationery.'"

"Famous People who have dined at Mader's"

This is the front of a card that given out at Mader's, a famous Milwaukee restaurant, back in the late 1950s or early 1960s.

Mader's, which is renowned for its German cuisine and has been in operation for more than a century, has welcomed an enviable list of celebrity diners over the decades. The list, according to the restaurant's website, includes U.S. presidents Kennedy, Reagan and Ford, Frank Sinatra, Paul Newman, John Wayne, Cary Grant, Boris Karloff, Howard Cosell, William Shatner, Justin Bieber, and Clark Gable. To name just a few.

And so I wondered what I might find in the moments before I flipped open this old card.

A photo of JFK with some wiener schnitzel?

Cary Grant with a plate of pork shank and sauerkraut in front of him?

Alfred Hitchcock noshing on spätzle?

None of the above.

Here's what was inside...

I don't suppose I could convince anyone that's Audrey Hepburn under the costume?

Oh well. At least it fits in with this week's bunny theme.

More goodies from the October 1971 issue of Berlin Today

Frank's Pig-Pen, a former West Berlin watering hole that was the subject of last night's post, was just one of the interesting things to be found within the October 1971 issue of Berlin Today, an entertainment guide geared primarily toward the U.S. military members stationed in West Berlin during the Cold War.

Here are some of the other neat things from this 40-page staplebound publication:

1. The are daily listings for Armed Forces TV-Berlin, a low-power UHF channel that was available West Berlin. Some of the television shows that were regularly aired included My Favorite Martian, Green Acres, Dragnet, Playboy After Dark, Sesame Street, Bonanza, Room 222, and The Tim Conway Comedy Hour.¹

2. Although Armed Forces TV had very limited movie offerings, there were at least four West Berlin movie theaters with lineups geared toward Americans — Andrews, Columbia, Outpost and Coliseum. Some of the movies showing in October 1971 were The Vampire Lovers, Jane Eyre, The Barefoot Executive, Alex in Wonderland, Get Carter and Cold Turkey. The movie theaters also showed the 1971 Indianapolis 500, 1971 college football highlights and Woody Woodpecker cartoons.

3. There is a "Menu Translator" section featuring an illustration for Monsieur Gourmet that looks quite a bit like Stewie from Family Guy. Don't order weinbergschnecken off a menu unless you have a hankering for snails. If you order your steak nicht durchgebraten, it will come to you nice and bloody.

4. There is an advertisement for a Bechstein Grand Piano available for a one-time offer of just 9,000 Deutsche Marks. I truly don't know whether that would have been a great deal or not.

5. Finally, there is this amazing advertisement on the back page of the guide. It touts Rolf Eden's four international dance bars, which featured a mix of disco, jazz, beer, go-go girls, whiskey, orchestras, strippers, and "the latest Zany Electronic Eden Creations."

That's Rolf Eden himself in the advertisement, holding a gun and looking like James Bond.

According to an English translation of his German-language Wikipedia page, Rolf Eden Shimon is a well-known playboy and nightclub owner. He was born in 1930 to Jewish parents in Berlin. The family fled to Mandatory Palestine in 1933 as the Nazis rose to power. Eden worked as a musician for a while. He lived in Paris during the early 1950s and then returned to Berlin in 1956.

He opened the first of his establishments, the Eden Saloon, in 1957, and his nightclub empire grew from there. He eventually transitioned to real estate and fully divested himself of his clubs in 2002.

Eden has also had a side career as a movie actor. He had a role in 1962's The Terror of Doctor Mabuse, which starred Gert Fröbe (of Goldfinger fame).

Eden's German-language autobiography was published in 2012, and I think the not-safe-for-work cover tells you all you need to know about his life. The main title translates roughly to "Always Just Been Lucky."

Here are a few more Eden-related links:

• 1963 Life magazine photograph from inside Old Eden Saloon
• 2012 New York Times article by Nicholas Kulish: "A German Playboy, With a Well-Kept, Earnest Past"
• Mid-1960s photo of Eden and some memories from photographer Mark B. Anstendig

Footnote
1. For more on Armed Forces TV-Berlin, check out this remembrance website (which hasn't been updated since 2008, but still has a little bit of good info).

Frank's Pig-Pen in West Berlin: Old advertisement and some memories

This advertisement for Frank's Pig-Pen, a former bar/restaurant in West Berlin, appears in the October 1971 issue of Berlin Today, a dining and entertainment guide that was partially geared toward the U.S. military members stationed there.

Berlin Today featured information for travelers, church-service listings, shopping guides and many advertisements for West Berlin's night life. The magazine's center spread contained a map of West Berlin that also showed the location of East Berlin and Checkpoint Charlie, along the Berlin Wall.

Frank's Pig-Pen was open seven days per week, from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. Its cuisine included numerous Italian specialties, "French Snails," fried chicken, U.S.-style steak, barbecued spare ribs, fried shrimp and schnitzel.

I found these memories of Frank's Pig-Pen while scouring various Internet comment threads and message boards. (I did some very light editing on some of them.)

• "It was a few blocks up the street from Andrews barracks, at the corner of Martha Strasse and Kadettenweg. Frank's served bar food, like pizza, sausage, and fried potatoes. The upstairs was where the owner (Frank) lived."¹
• In January 2001, George DeBuchananne wrote: "The building still stands as of last summer. It is now a residence. ... I got to know Frank and Sabenia quite well. ... [Frank] realized how much money he could make by selling Italian food to GI's sick of wurst & salad. The funny part was that he really thought that he could create a 'Class Place' rather than just another smelly watering hole. Actually, Frank could cook. He had always told me that he was Italian from Brooklyn, NY. When he and Sabenia moved out of their apartment and into the place over their new bar, they thought they had hit the big time! The only trouble was that Frank spoke no German. Sabenia had all the papers made out in her name so when their relationship hit the rocks the place was like a soap opera. After the big blow-up I heard that Sabenia went for 'class' and tried to turn the place into a 'Key Club'. That didn't last long. I heard that Frank went to the Azores or somewhere and started another restaurant."²
• Arnold Townsend, commenting on an unrelated story on PowerLineBlog.com, wrote: "I'll never forget 'Frank's Pig Pen' in Berlin. The food was pretty good all things considered. But for someone like me, from the Southern portion of the Bible Belt, it was most definitely an eye-opener."
• An anonymous commenter wrote: "I remember Kramer's Place ... they had good pizza and beer ... and yes, I also remember The Golden Sun ... we called it The Golden Scum ... and that's where I was when we landed on the moon for the first time in July 1969 ... We also hung out at Frank's Place ... go straight out the front gate, cross over F'Allee and walk one block ...on the right .... we called it Frank's Pig Pen .... I staggered back to the barracks from Frank's on many nights."³
• Finally, "Army Medic Dad" wrote: "Two blocks up the street from Kramer's Pizza was Frank's Pig Pen. It was a bar/grill run by a U.S. Army veteran and his wife. Around midnight, he would close the place to all the civilians then would bring in local 'dancing' girls, who would perform for the U.S. soldiers. There were a couple times I didn't leave there until dawn. I'd post photos but then I'd have to kill you."⁴

Footnotes
1 and 2. Both of these memories come from the "Bars, and Other FSB Watering Holes" page (which also has a photo of Frank's) on The Field Station Berlin Vets Group website (http://fsbvg.homestead.com/index.html).
3. This was found in the comment thread for a 2011 video titled "Andrews Barracks Kaserne West Berlin Germany" at this URL.
4. This comment was on a GoArmyParents.com message board.